Accept you as my master?…'

Xu Tianran's mind raced.

'What if — even if there's only a 0.1% chance — he's genuinely trying to take me as his disciple? If I reject him outright and this ancient monster gets offended, what if he attacks me out of anger? I can't afford to gamble with my life right now…'

After thinking it through, Xu Tianran chose to accept Tian Mozi as his master and kowtowed three times.

Tian Mozi's ancient voice echoed once again:

"In countless Immortal Dao Worlds, I have left behind countless treasures — only those with fate can discover them. I have marked their locations on your soul map. Seek them out. If you can ascend to the Primordial Immortal Realm, I will personally descend to meet you. This is your first task after becoming my disciple."

After saying that, Tian Mozi fell silent, deliberately avoiding further conversation.

'The more he talks, the more suspicious this brat will become…'

After that, no telepathy sounded in Xu Tianran's mind.

Before he could sigh in relief, the system's mechanical voice echoed in his mind:

(Ding, host has reached the necessary condition to hear the Origin Dao Ancestor's will.)

After that, the system sound stopped. A sphere covered Xu Tianran's entire room, and the colors turned black and white, as if time itself had stopped.

An ethereal ancient voice — neither warm nor cold, purely indifferent — spoke into Xu Tianran's mind:

"I am merely a recorded will."

"If you are hearing my voice, it means Tian Mozi has contacted you using his soul telepathy function, a method of communication between the main body and its clone."

Without any hesitation, the voice continued:

"I am the Origin Dao Ancestor — Gu Xuanyin, the one who created cultivation itself, the pioneer who comprehended the laws and was acknowledged by the Universe Will itself. I reached the peak realm of Universe Origin Dao Ancestor and hold the title of Senior Brother to Tian Mozi, who is currently imprisoned in the Primordial Chaos Realm."

"The Universe Will is always indifferent and impartial, but its primal instinct is to protect the universe and ensure its survival. It acknowledged me as the pioneer of cultivation and entrusted me with spreading the Dao across all worlds, increasing the total power level of the universe — ultimately boosting its chances of survival against future threats that could lead to its complete annihilation."

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All was well, but my junior brother Tian Mozi, who had always stood in awe of me and lived within my shadow, gradually clouded his heart with jealousy, desiring to become an Origin Dao Ancestor himself.

Upon reaching the Origin Dao Emperor Realm, one gains the ability to travel outside the boundaries of the universe into the endless void. During his travels, Tian Mozi eventually encountered a terrifying powerhouse — an Origin Dao Ancestor from another universe, whose sheer size spanned an entire galaxy.

This alien powerhouse captured Tian Mozi and forcibly soul-read him, uncovering his treacherous nature. Amused by his ambition, the being placed a soul slave imprint on him, binding his life to a single command — to poison his senior brother, Gu Xuanyin, the Origin Dao Ancestor of his own universe.

The method of poisoning was even more horrifying — using the very essence of its universe's will, the alien powerhouse refined a terrifying poison known as the All-Severing Poison. This poison severs all fate, karma, time, and reincarnation itself, capable of reducing even a true Origin Dao Ancestor to absolute nothingness.

In return, the alien powerhouse promised Tian Mozi that he would be allowed to stay alive within the alien's universe after the mission was completed — while his home universe would be completely devoured. After delivering the order, the terrifying alien laughed in a way that shook Tian Mozi's very soul, a sinister echo filling the void.

After returning to our universe, Tian Mozi immediately carried out the order, poisoning his unaware senior brother, Gu Xuanyin. However, before he could even process what had happened, the entire universe turned black and white, as if time itself had frozen. Tian Mozi found himself unable to move, as the Universe Will directly descended to examine Gu Xuanyin's condition.

For the first time in its existence, the normally indifferent Universe Will felt two emotions — anger and fear.

Anger, because its very own Origin Dao Ancestor, the one who stood as the universe's strongest protector, had been poisoned by All-Severing Poison. And fear, because outside the universe's boundary, an unimaginably terrifying force — a galaxy-sized Origin Dao Ancestor — was waiting to devour the entire universe itself.

Driven by its primal instinct to survive at all costs, the Universe Will made a decision so extreme that it could have caused the universe to collapse entirely — it fused the will of the Origin Dao Ancestor with itself. This fusion made the poison ineffective, for the Universe Will itself could not be poisoned.

At the same time, this fusion created a terrifying boundary force strong enough to threaten even the galaxy-sized alien powerhouse, forcing the intruder to retreat back to its own universe. However, the alien deliberately left the soul imprint on Tian Mozi intact, seeing him as a future pawn.

Only after confirming the immediate safety of the universe did the Universe Will make its final move — stripping Gu Xuanyin's will of all emotion, leaving only absolute indifference, matching the nature of the Universe Will itself.

This emotionless state was necessary because the Order Cortex, the governing system responsible for maintaining the balance of countless universes in the void, would erase any universe from existence if an anomaly like this fusion was ever detected.

But before Gu Xuanyin's will was fully merged and became indifferent, he gave one final command — to imprison Tian Mozi eternally, ensuring he would suffer a fate far worse than death.

With that, Gu Xuanyin fully merged into the Universe Will, leaving behind only its primal instinct to protect and survive.

Xu Tianran was completely frozen, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information flooding into his mind. He thought the Origin Dao Ancestor's will had finally finished speaking — but contrary to his expectations, the ancient voice continued talking.

Xu Tianran's heart trembled.

'Is there still more?! Can you at least give me some time to digest all this first?!'

He wanted to cry, but no tears came.